New St. Paul’s Hospital gets green light

The long-awaited new St. Paul’s Hospital got the official green light today as approval of the hospital’s business plan was announced at a Vancouver press conference attended by government officials and representatives of Providence Health Care.

The new $1.9-billion hospital is expected to open in 2026 and will be located at 1002 Station St., adjacent to the Pacific Central train station. The facility will offer improved access to life-saving health care in downtown Vancouver, Providence said in a statement.

“For over 125 years, people in Vancouver and across British Columbia have benefited from the health care provided by St. Paul’s Hospital,” Premier John Horgan said. “Today, we are safeguarding these life-saving services by taking action to build a brand-new St. Paul’s Hospital that will serve more people and offer better access to the specialized care people need.”

Fiona Dalton, president and chief executive officer of Providence Health Care, noted that since the hospital was established by the Sisters of Providence “it has delivered compassionate care to the most vulnerable patient populations in Vancouver and across British Columbia. The provincial government’s visionary commitment and investment into the new St. Paul’s will enable us to take this commitment forward for the next 125 years. We will also work with our partners to ensure this amazing project further strengthens B.C.’s position as a global leader in health care, research and teaching.”

Health Minister Adrian Dix paid tribute to the hospital’s legacy of care and commented on the length of time it has taken for the hospital to proceed. “After more than a decade and a half of stalling, it is exciting to give the green light to a new, state-of-the-art St. Paul’s Hospital that will continue this legacy for many years to come.”

The press conference was attended by Jim Pattison, chairman and CEO of the Jim Pattison Group, who has donated $75 million to the future of St. Paul’s.

The new St. Paul’s will be an acute-care hospital and integrated health campus known as the Jim Pattison Medical Centre, while the hospital itself will still be called St. Paul's.

The current St. Paul’s Hospital land at 1081 Burrard St. will be sold, with funds going toward the new project.

The hospital will have capacity for up to 548 beds, an increase of 115, while the site will be home to several leading provincial programs and referral centres, including for heart and lung care, renal, eating disorders and specialty surgeries and transplants, said Providence.

Dick Vollet, president and chief executive officer of the St. Paul’s Foundation, said “The new St. Paul’s at the Jim Pattison Medical Centre will establish a new standard for health care and for community building. The site offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a hospital that’s purpose built to put people first.”

Providence said the hospital will also offer general and specialized care, including HIV/AIDS, chronic disease management services, emergency and critical care, mental health and addictions beds and programs, ambulatory services and outpatient clinics, end-of-life care, Indigenous health, maternity, colorectal and gastrointestinal services, and community care and community outreach programs.

In addition, health care workers, researchers and students will have access to medical projects like immunotherapy, precision medicine, virtual reality, robotics and 3-D printing, said Providence. Medical records, test results and images will be instantly and securely accessible to patients and their care team no matter where people are in the hospital or the province.

St. Paul’s will continue to be a teaching hospital, training hundreds of University of British Columbia medical students, British Columbia Institute of Technology nursing students, and hundreds of other health-sector professions. “Integration of care, teaching and research — with emphasis on new knowledge rapidly translated into patient care solutions — will continue to be the focus of its research centres and specialized programs,” said Providence.

The project will be delivered using a design-build finance procurement model and will be cost shared between the provincial government and Providence Health Care. St. Paul’s Foundation campaign fundraising goal for Providence Health Care is anticipated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with a portion allocated to the new core hospital. 

For more information visit http://thenewstpauls.ca